Adolescents and sexuality

This week I had the opportunity to interview a member of my family about her beliefs and attitudes about sexuality, and the main point she emphasized most was how much she wished children had more and better education about it. I was thrilled to see that the chapters we were assigned to read for this week included information about teens and younger peoples sexuality, and made a point about how previous research and prevention programs do not adequately study this topic. I have been thinking more about how children are taught about sexuality since doing the interview, and I think the most important thing missing is a balance of information. Children and teens need to be informed about the good and the bad parts of sex, and to be prepared for any and all scenarios that could arise.

Another thing I have been thinking about following the interview and readings for this week are the gender differences in how children and teens are taught about sexuality and how they ought to be taught about it. Seeing as so many people have so any varieties of sexual difficulties that often begin in adolescence, it is clear to me that a better sexual education would be the first step in remedying this problem.

An issue that was brought up in the chapter is that an undesirable sexual experience at a young age might cause someone to be less willing to participate in similar types of sexual experiences in the future. However, I think that with effective sexual education including body image, positive and negative parts of sex, and normative sex practices, younger people would be less likely to develop fears and pathological behaviors surrounding sex.

Another issue that was mentioned in the chapter is that adolescents are expected to not achieve orgasm and to not function sexually like adults, so they are not generally diagnosed with sexual dysfunctions. This could be a problem if an adolescent actually does meet criteria for a dysfunction that will only become worse, but therapists and doctors turn the patient away due to age and assumptions about normative sex practices and desires. As a newer therapist, I would be less likely to pathologise for anyone to eliminate this problem, and would only consider a diagnosis it was something that would help the client. I would try to treat an adolescent with sexual difficulties like I would an adult with similar issues, but would try to do more educational work to supplement what the sexual education systems are lacking.